'Skylanders SuperChargers' Innovates With Land, Sea And Air Vehicles

Skylanders SuperChargers adds super-customizable vehicles, re-tooled characters and adds low cost portal owners pack. With over 250,000,000 Skylanders being sold since 2011 generating some $3 billion dollars, this is one franchise not to overlook even with increased competition this year.

Of course we knew it was coming and as each year passes on Toys to Life franchises we all get a little more jaded on how much fun we get for our buck. I should say up front, before seeing SuperChargers I had more than a little Skylanders fatigue. While I love its less commercially driven characters (compared to the franchise led alternatives) that avoid the usual buff/slender binary for male/female heroes, I was tired of the same familiar game-play each year.

Skylanders SuperChargers turned me and my family around though. It not only comes with articulated vehicles that work well as toys on the playroom floor, but this new twist opens up a whole new set of ways to play the game on the screen. Combine this with not having to buy a new portal this year and Skylanders looks pretty attractive to families.

Skylanders SuperChargers expands the game by adding land, sea and air based vehicles. Placing these toys on the portal brings in the related vehicle for specific areas of each level -- mountains, deep sea and open skies. Each vehicle can be used by any Skylander, but when paired with the matching SuperCharger figurine special vehicle modifications and upgrades are unlocked.

The story this year is another tongue in cheek romp leveraging all star voice talent and known characters like Kaos, Flynn and Tali. This time Kaos’ quest to rule over Skylands leads him to create his “Doomstation of
Ultimate Doomstruction”. Master Eon employs the players to use a special
team of Skylanders to pilot a fleet of vehicles with the power to destroy the reign of destruction.

The Super Chargers themselves are a new line of Skylander character each with a new set of attacks and weapons -- Super Shot Stealth Elf, Dive-Clops and Spitfire. They can customize vehicles in-game with modifications and upgradeable weapons. As players progress they can also discover hidden mod drops such as a volcanic booster engine that spews lava rocks and jet wings with feathers made of gold. As you play you collect gear bit collectables that are then used in a spin to win machine to access different upgrades.

There are 20 new Skylanders SuperChargers. 10 are returning characters re-tooled in a new form with an entirely new upgrade tree and moves. There are 10 new characters for SuperChargers. There are 20 vehicles, one for each of the characters. This suggests that we will be seeing the return of last year's Light and Dark elements to make the total up to 10 elements, with two characters and two vehicles in each.

Skylanders SuperChargers

The most surprising news this year is that families no longer have to buy another big plastic portal peripheral to play the game. A much cheaper digital Portal Owners Pack for both consoles and iPads grants access to the game along with "Instant" digital characters. This can be used with the old portals not only from Trap Team but also Swap Force and Giants to bring vehicles and characters into the game.

You can also use your portal from previous generation to further limit the need to buy a Starter Pack. Wii U can use Wii portal, PS4 can use PS3 portal although it's worth noting that Xbox One can’t use 360 portal -- due to a
Microsoft limitation as I understand it.

Players who do go for the Starter Pack get one vehicle (Hot Streak), one returning Skylander (Sure Shot Stealth Elf) and one new Skylander (Spitfire) as well as a new rubberized portal. This has the additional benefit of granted access to last year's traps to unlock element related power ups for the vehicles -- something that can also be done if using Trap Team portal. Also announced were new Air Skylander Stormblade, the Sky Slicer Air Vehicle and Dive Bomber Water Vehicle with its Skylander Dive-Clops.

The game itself switches things up from previous year's pedestrian adventures. Now play switches seamlessly between vehicle and on-foot challenges. Two player co-op continues in shared screen mode, but when using vehicles players tag team a bit like Mario Kart Double Dash so that one steers while the other shoots. For families of mixed abilities and ages it's a nice way to get everyone involved.

Visually more has been done this year. Along with a nice graphical bump comes a range of procedurally generated elements. This means that the waves of the water levels have a real impact on how boats and submarines steer, much like Wave Racer on the N64. In other areas procedural fog will obscure a occlude secret items and parts of the level. It's impressive looking stuff but more importantly the vehicles feel good to control. The cars have that tacky almost remote control car motion to them while boats and planes each open out new interactions that are as fun as they are appealing to watch.

All this is designed to impress the gaming masses, but it's the smaller unseen changes to the game that will make the biggest difference to families. Being able to re-use old Portals makes Skylanders significantly cheaper this year. Doing away with the reposed and remodeled characters in favor of totally new iterations of classic heroes also brings better value and avoids children re-buying the same figure again and again.

Still, the presence of in-game advertising for additional toys when "Soul Gems" are collected will surprise many parents. These play short videos showing what the child could do if only they purchased the related plastic figurine or vehicle, which if discovered by parents will explain much supermarket checkout pestering.

Skylanders SuperChargers Super Shot Stealth Elf

Also, having different types of vehicles is also a double edged sword, both offering novel new game-play but also drive the desire to purchase additional toys. Although parents should note that you can complete the on-foot and land sequences with the Starter pack the sea and sky areas can't be access without additional purchases. There are also vehicle based Elemental areas which will require a vehicle of a certain element.

The only other down side to my eye is that the new SuperCharger figures can't be sat in the physical toy vehicle. In terms of physical play this would have created all sort of great imaginative options. As it stand the two relate closely in the game but not so much on the living room floor. I suspect there is a technical reason for this limitation around not wanting to require a new portal this year, but it's still a minor negative.

On balance though, this is an impressive step forwards by Skylanders. Looking back at sales from 2014 it's equally impressive to see that it outsold its competitors by at least 30% in 2014 (The NPD Group, GfK Chart) along with racking up 250,000,000 figurine sales since 2011 (The NPD Group, GfK Chart).

Although there are pitfalls, there is significant enjoyment and value on offer here for families. While it's the new characters, levels and customizable vehicles that will catch youngster's eyes, supporting everyone of the old figures and traps along with offering digital versions to work with the old portals is a master stroke that will be warmly welcomed by parents.

Skylanders SuperChargers Hot Streak

Skylanders SuperChargers will be released on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, iPad, Nintendo Wii U. This year we don't get the full game on the Wii but there is a complementary offering on Wii and 3DS. The game releases September 20 in North America, September 25 in Europe.

I am a technology critic specializing in families. I write for national newspapers and appear on BBC TV and Radio. I produce the Family Gamer TV YouTube channel.